Solutions to Ability Damage

[supersonic29]

I'm toying around with building a tainted sorcerer (http://www.d20srd.org/srd/variant/campaigns/taint.htm) who exploits tainted metamagic as his big gimmick. I know binding Naberius gets me faster ability healing, but is there anything good to stack on top of that to fuel constant usage of tainted metamagic?

[heavyfuel]

Custom item of continuous Sheltered Vitality should cost 30k GP. It makes you immune to ability damage.

[heavyfuel]

Becoming a Necropolitan also makes you immune to Con damage.

[Zanos]

Become undead and laugh and laugh and laugh?

I'd use tainted metamagic to persist sheltered vitality and pick up a rod of bodily restoration from the MIC to heal the damage.

[Andezzar]

An Eternal Wand of Lesser Restoration (Knight of the Weave) allows the sorcerer to remove 1d4 points of ability damage twice per day.

Sheltered Vitality cannot be persisted (without the ocular spell trick). It is neither personal nor fixed range. It is Range: Touch.

[heavyfuel]

Become undead and laugh and laugh and laugh?

I'd use tainted metamagic to persist sheltered vitality and pick up a rod of bodily restoration from the MIC to heal the damage.

He's playing a Sorcerer, so no Sheltered Vitality for him to Persist. Not before lv9 in the least if the DM allows Extra Spell, or without Rainbow Savant (I'm AFB, but I think it requires you to be good, so it doesn't work)

Even then, I'm pretty sure he'd still take 7 Con damage (6 for Persist, 1 for Reach) because casting a spell takes place before the spell takes effect, so he'd have to spend an additional slot to use it twice, once normally, once Persisting.

[Inevitability]

Becoming a Necropolitan also makes you immune to Con damage.

And Strength and Dexterity damage. No Shivering Touch is getting me down!

Hey, if it is fair game for players, it is fair game for DM's too.

[Zanos]

He's playing a Sorcerer, so no Sheltered Vitality for him to Persist. Not before lv9 in the least if the DM allows Extra Spell, or without Rainbow Savant (I'm AFB, but I think it requires you to be good, so it doesn't work)

Even then, I'm pretty sure he'd still take 7 Con damage (6 for Persist, 1 for Reach) because casting a spell takes place before the spell takes effect, so he'd have to spend an additional slot to use it twice, once normally, once Persisting.
That's what the rod is for. And Tainted Sorcerer can use classes besides normal Sorcerer as a base. An arcane caster could persist Kiss of the Vampire, but that's two spell levels higher.

[Red Fel]

Shape Soulmeld (Strongheart Vest) reduces incoming ability damage by 1. Invest 1 essentia to reduce incoming ability damage by 2. Open Greater Chakra (Waist) to bind it, and gain the same reduction against ability drain. (Note that OGC requires level 18.)

Shape Soulmeld (Vitality Belt), Open Greater Chakra (Waist) to gain complete immunity to Con damage and drain.

[supersonic29]

On the note of undead like Necropolitan being suggested, tainted sorcerers without a constitution score can't use tainted metamagic (unfortunately).

The Vitality Belt is a great solution, though it's a shame it requires 18th level, but it's great because it requires no class dipping. Guess it depends on the play setting or if I just want to keep this as an exhibition piece of a character.

Other ways of gaining immunity to Constitution damage anyone knows of?

Edit: Forgot to reply to


Custom item of continuous Sheltered Vitality should cost 30k GP. It makes you immune to ability damage.

Seems great! I'd pick a character option to preserve gold if possible, but 100% viable solution :smallbiggrin:

[Andezzar]

The Vitality Belt is a great solution, though it's a shame it requires 18th level, but it's great because it requires no class dipping. Guess it depends on the play setting or if I just want to keep this as an exhibition piece of a character.

Other ways of gaining immunity to Constitution damage anyone knows of?
It is debatable whether being immune to CON damage allows you to still use tainted metamagic.
The cost is a number of points of Constitution damage equal to the spell slot adjustment of the metamagic feat.If a creature is immune to CON damage, does it pay the cost?

[AnonymousPepper]

Yeah, I think it would work.

Say a caster wanted to use the spell Burning Rage, which grants buffs to a target (+1 attack rolls, +2 damage, DR2/Magic) but also inflicts 4 points of fire damage per round for its duration (rounds/CL). He uses it on a Tiefling, whose Fiendish Resistance (Fire/Electricity/Cold 5) applies to the damage, absorbing it without harm. The spell certainly still works, the Tiefling is just immune to the downsides.

[Andezzar]

The benefits and the drawbacks are effects of the spell. You can be immune to the benefits, or the drawbacks or both. The spell still works, but may have a reduced effect on you.

On the other hand the ability damage fuels the tainted metamagic to produce the effect. No fuel, no effect. To me it is more like trying to use DMM without having any turn attempts left.

[Teh_das]

Maybe an activated item of restoration? If gold is an issue, lesser restoration works, though you'll not get the same mileage.

[Andezzar]

See post #5 (http://www.giantitp.com/forums/showsinglepost.php?p=17821821&postcount=5).

It may be more difficult to get DM approval for a custom magic item than a (nearly) stock magic item.

[The Insanity]

Get more Con and Wis.

[Rijan_Sai]

The benefits and the drawbacks are effects of the spell. You can be immune to the benefits, or the drawbacks or both. The spell still works, but may have a reduced effect on you.

On the other hand the ability damage fuels the tainted metamagic to produce the effect. No fuel, no effect. To me it is more like trying to use DMM without having any turn attempts left.


Tainted Metamagic
A tainted sorcerer who learns metamagic feats can apply them by paying an additional cost in blood. By draining blood, a tainted sorcerer can enhance her spells without using a higher-level spell slot. The cost is a number of points of Constitution damage equal to the spell slot adjustment of the metamagic feat. Thus, casting an empowered vampiric touch spell costs a tainted sorcerer 2 points of Constitution damage, because an empowered spell uses up a spell slot two levels higher than normal. A tainted sorcerer cannot enhance a spell to a level higher than she can cast by this means. For example, a tainted sorcerer must be at least a 9th-level caster to cast an empowered vampiric touch spell (or at least 10th level, if the character is casting as a sorcerer), since the empowered spell requires a 5th-level spell slot.

A tainted sorcerer without a Constitution score cannot use this ability.
Bolded for emphasis.

Campare to the clause from Hellfire Warlock: "...if you do not have a Constitution score or are somehow immune to Constitution damage, you cannot use this ability."

This is the big line that has sparked many a debate over using Strongheart Vest to reduce the damage: it prevents you from taking the damage, but doesn't make you immune to it. (BTW, NOT trying to bring up that argument here...just referencing it.)

In the case of Tainted Metamagic, lacking that line, by RAW, would mean that there is no issue with it. So long as you have a CON score, (so no undead,) you can mitigate the damage entirely and the power still works!

[Ellowryn]

Also highly recommend having the evil subtype, either through race or the ritual of alignment from savage species cause having no immunity to taint = new BBEG for the Dm.

Strongheart vest with a feat or two to give you some extra essentia is probably the best way to deal with the damage cause preventing the damage is waaaay better than trying to fix it after its happened, usually in the middle of combat.

[supersonic29]

When I think about the tainted sorcerer and the lore aspect of it I don't think you can say that the price isn't paid. It says A tainted sorcerer who learns metamagic feats can apply them by paying an additional cost in blood. By draining blood, a tainted sorcerer can enhance her spells without using a higher-level spell slot. It's not immunity to blood loss, it's immunity to con damage, so you drain the blood, but it has no significant effect on you.

[Lightlawbliss]

Maybe an activated item of restoration? If gold is an issue, lesser restoration works, though you'll not get the same mileage.

self resetting trap (warning, book throwing may occur if mentioned to dm)

[Andezzar]

It's not immunity to blood loss, it's immunity to con damage, so you drain the blood, but it has no significant effect on you.So this means that any creature of whom we do not know whether it has blood i.e. (almost) everything besides humans and animals) cannot use the ability.

Also you omitted the next sentence
The cost is a number of points of Constitution damage equal to the spell slot adjustment of the metamagic feat.